Sip Quips

With summer right around the corner it’s time to contemplate room temperature for your red wines.  As the mercury rises outside, the temp in your house and of your red wines can soar too.  If you don’t want to squirrel your red wines away for the summer, and also don’t want to subject yourself to the evils of 70+ degree wine, you can either shell out big bucks for a wine fridge, which you probably don’t have room for anyway, or you can take advantage of the fridge you already have in your kitchen.

Now, mind you, I’m not saying to throw out your wine rack and store everything in the fridge. First off – where would your milk and juice go, and secondly, your reds would be too cold. The average fridge temp is between 32-40° F, which is a little brisk for red wines, but an hour or two in the old chill chest will bring the temp down into a reasonable range for reds. I find an inverse proportion between weight of a red and the temperature I prefer to drink it – a big weighty Cabernet or Bordeaux is best served a bit warmer that a lighter Pinot or Cru Beaujolais, which can take more of a chill.

The fridge is also the perfect spot to keep that unfinished bottle, should you ever find yourself with unfinished wines. Yes, even the reds. Storing open bottles in the fridge will slow the process of oxidation and keep your wines fresher longer. Just because you store it in the fridge, doesn’t mean that you have to drink it straight from the fridge. Pour yourself a glass of red from the fridge while you are cooking dinner, and by the time you are ready to eat it will have warmed up a tad, and be just the perfect temp. So, next 90° day, pop your Pinot in the fridge before you toss the burgers on the grill, and your lightly chilled wine will not only be delicious, but nice and refreshing too.

The server approaches your table, bottle in hand, and you freeze. You know that you and your server are about to begin a ritualized dance – but you don’t know the choreography. Not to worry, I’m here to show you the steps. 

First, the server will present the bottle to you. Your job is to take a look at the label and make sure that it is the wine that you ordered. Occasionally a restaurant will have two labels both from the same producer, so this is a chance for both you and your server to verify that the bottle she is holding is the bottle you want.

Next the server will open the bottle and offer you the cork. There is little more pretentious than smelling the cork. You want to know what it’s going to smell like? Cork. There is a lot that you can tell from the cork, but by looking at it, not smelling it.

When looking at the cork check to verify that the name and vintage on the cork (if there is a name and/or vintage) matches the bottle. If it doesn’t the bottle was likely recorked, or mislabeled – either way it is a problem and should be sent back. You also want to make sure that the cork is free of visible defects – cracks, mold, wine stains running the length of the cork. These are not guarantees that the wine within is bad, but they are definitely red flags. Make sure that you smell the wine carefully and thoughtfully if you see any of these warning signs.

Now the server will pour a small taste of wine in your glass. You swirl, sniff and taste the wine. You are checking to be sure that the wine has not spoiled, not whether or not you like it. If the wine is good it will smell like, well….wine. If it smells like vinegar, nail polish remover, onions, wet cardboard or otherwise ‘off’ tell the waiter. In the case of a spoiled bottle the waiter will bring another bottle of the same wine and you will start the dance all over again.

In the vast majority of bottles the wine will be just fine, and you should indicate this to the server. With a simple nod from you the server will pour the wine, set the remainder of the bottle on the table, and you have made it to the end of the dance without a stumble. Now it’s time to sit back and enjoy dinner.

One factor that often gets forgotten in wine pairing is the temperature you are serving the wine at. Red wines are supposed to be served a room temperature and whites at fridge temp, right? Not exactly.

How many of you keep the rooms in your house between 60-65 degrees? Not many I would guess, and typically the fridge is a little too chilly for whites. My rule of thumb when it comes to wines is to pop the red and/or pull the white out of the fridge when you start cooking. This way all of your wines will be just right when it comes to temperature. 

Most of us have thrown out the old adage of white with fish and red with meat, so why not follow suit with wine temperature? The warmer a wine is the more you will be able to smell in the wine and vice versa. So if you have a really fragrant white wine that you serve ice cold, yo will be losing out on a lot of the aromatic characteristics of the wine. Same thing works in reverse – a red you don’t particularly like the nose on? Pop it in the fridge and the offending characteristics will fade away.

When do you play with serving temperature? Well when it seems right (easy answer, isn’t it). If it’s really hot outside, serve your red with a little chill. If you are having Fettucini Carbonara on the coldest night of the year, serve your white a little warmer. 

But don’t limit yourself to just the outdoor temperature – think about the meal too. Last night we had a grilled New York with Mediterranean greens (not my best creation, so you won’t find a recipe for this one), and we had a Barbera with a slight chill on it. Now my husband would probably tell you that the chill was because he pulled the bottle from underneath our house right before dinner – but it was actually intentional. The fresh flavors of the greens needed all of the flavors of a big red wine, but muted a bit.

When you are thinking of playing with the temperature here are a few guidelines. Lighter reds typically take the chill better than heavier ones, so don’t go throwing your Petite Sirahs and 90’s Napa Cabs in the fridge for an hour or two. Think Pinot Noir, Gamay, Barbera and even Loire Valley Cabernet Francs – they all play well in the cold. If you want to warm up a white remember acid is key. A really acidic white will end up tasting tart and weirdly tannic if served too warm, whereas a really low acid wine will taste fat and flabby. Viognier is a good candidate, as are French Burgundies. Keep the sweeter wines and the sparkling wines in the fridge and serve those babies ice cold!